Tuesday, 30 March 2010

One of the few things I have not blogged oftenly about, and is still really popular in Asian cosmetics and the beauty blogs, is that infamous product called BB cream. Probably everyone reading this blog will know that BB cream is a combination product of skincare and makeup-coverage in one. The first thing popping to an newbie to BB cream comes to mind that it is a tinted foundation, it actually differs from a tinted foundation that it is often thicker and infused with ingredients that benefit the skin (whitening, anti-aging, pore-reducing, etc), something that depends on the BB cream itself.

BB creams have been highly popular for a while and a bit overhyped, in my opinion. They claimed to be the best thing since sliced bread and BB creams can have really good benefits among a large group of fans. I will be clear about the fact that I dislike most BB creams. I find them too heavy on my skin, like a sort of mask. My skin simply does not respond good on wearing most BB creams.

Another rant I have is that the colour selection is extremely limited. Even though I am lucky to be in the undertone BB creams often come in (and often in the darker variety, no 23), I cannot get over the grey undertone. I am aware that BB creams function more as a primer and not as a foundation, which makes it even worse --->over that first suffocating layer of BB cream comes a layer of foundation too? Oh noo.

Shortly, this review comes from a person who dislikes the bulk of BB creams on the market. Ha? you must say, why did you buy another BB cream? Ehm, because it came as a set, with a promising compact powder.

More promising...etudehouse (etudegmark) on gmarket promised its buyers lots and lots of extra goodies for the complete price of W 18.000 or $ 16.25 at the current rate. That would be a compact powder in colour 21 or 23 ( I will do a review on it soon, as it is already quite good!), a cream cheek colour in a dewy pink colour, a liptint/gloss combination product in one of the four colours they offered I saw on the promo picture (set 3, see below) and a box of brown stuff (that is instant coffee, I found out).

I would say that there would be no harm to buying this BB cream...it is just cheapskate and freebie heaven!

Surprisingly, the BB cream was better than I expected!

Which makes me disclaimer again that this opinion is completely personal, and comes from a very picky nicky person with a skin that would be a dermatologist nightmare.

I seem to tolerate the feeling of the Rice BB cream, as it is a lighter BB cream. This lightness, however, will result in a thinner coverage, thus more natural and less made-up... (check the swatches below)

The colour match is quite good, I believe (I have approximately MAC NW20 skin). The grey colour often present in BB creams is not present in this one:

When blending out, you can still see that the BB cream becomes slightly lighter. This reminds me of infamous L'Egere White BB cream, which starts even darker than this one. The left side of the next picture is the unbleded side which transgresses into a more blended version to the right.

However, it does not become too white that is is far away from my natural skintone. You can see that on the last picture below, when I completely blended it into the skin.

The fact that the colour is not too light might be a positive thing or a negative thing, which depends on the effect you are after.

Optically, it diminishes the size of my pores (and that is necessary!) on the one hand, and slightly blurs away the 'wonderful' sides of getting older, aka wrinkles.

So, the colour is quite matchy and the BB cream does not give me a suffocating, mask-like effect.

Which brings me to the scent....Some BB scents have these herbal-like mixes that linger the whole day. Something I am not too fond about. Etude House Rice BB cream is scented with a medical-like scent. It is hard to put my finger on it, but it has a slight medical-type scent that dissapears after a couple of minutes.

Which brings me to my dislike for BB creams. Have I become a BB-cream believer after this specific BB cream? Not entirely. Even though I tolerate this BB cream and it feels confortable on my skin every now and then, it has not reached everyday HG status. I am still convinced that standard foundations are better suited for the effect that I am after. Nevertheless, I absolutely am quite content about this BB cream: it feels light, has a believable colour, and is quite cheap.

I bought this one Gmarket from seller etudegmark under itemcode 179033066 (click). And yes, I received all of the goodies promised in the listing, including a cute post-it set! Yey!

Monday, 29 March 2010

Well yes. After a time that my aim of wearing makeup was to look like a better and prettier version like me, I have been experimenting days that I absolutely do not want to go for girly prettiness anymore. Those days, pretty does not suit me.

I want some warpaint...something not pretty, but bold and fierce. Something that says...'don't mess with me', or 'here I am', or perhaps...'if you want to peck me on the cheeks, I will put a big mark on you that marks you with my present'.

So a retro coloured lipstick is the thing to go for:

Bésame, by Gabriela Hernandes...

Retro it is...from the box to the bullet-shaped lipstick...

If I semi-complained in my last post about persons who cannot see that you are wearing lipsticks, well, this is a lipstick for the unsubtile watcher. They will absolutely know you are wearing lipstick.

Unfortunately, this lippy contains parabens.

On the good side, it contains Ethyl Vanillin, which is the synthetic form of vanilla. This is plain vanilla to most of us, as the real mcCoy is hardly being used in cosmetic and foods anymore (the true madagascar kind). Often people shy away when they hear the word 'synthetic' combined with perfume or scent, but most synthetic forms are absolutely brilliant in duplicating the real thing. And more, they have the ability to last longer as well.

On a side note, one of Hermes latest perfumes, Hermes Vanilla Galante is one of the few perfumes that actually uses real vanilla (read more over here on a blog that actually specialises on perfume). On an extra side note...I think I want to have a sample of Hermes Vanilla Galante...

It is probably the closest thing of ever owning something Hermes. You see, I have this lovely user name birkinbagbeauty, however, I do not own a Hermes Birkin, and I am absolutely no beauty...Thus, the name has nothing to do with reality...(still, nice to dream about)

Lipstick! Back to the subject! Ok, the vanilla is something I am happy about, as it lingers in the scent of the lipstick...a soft, delicate vanilla...

Carmine 204 is the colour I chose. As I said, I was not going for the pretty...It might be an elegant kind of beauty but not a girly pretty. Thus, the colour is a orangy red reminicent of the 50s (or the Mad Men type of women who wear lipsticks with preciseness).

This is a contrasting pictures on many levels:

Ofcourse, the obvious thing is that I am showing the size again. Ugh, I do not like sizing up products and comparing them. But it is a kind of review, thus have to show you how dainty the lipstick is.

Back to the topic of pretty versus elegant...I placed a Mac Hello Kitty next to it! Yep, it is the ultimate form of girliness and kawaii ...How different the golden and boldly pigmented bullet is of Bésame. Innocence and maturity...it sounds like a William Blake poem, ;p

Swatch! Swatch! Swatch!

The pigment is heavy but it is not a matte and flat lipstick. I like this about the Enchanting lipstick. The soft shine or glow you can see in the swatch is present on the lips as well. It optically makes the lips a bit softer, even though I still wear a full-on orangy red lipstick.

It is also possible to remove that shine from your lips, if you like, after blotting several times with a tissue. That makes it more matte and more pressed on.

Although the lipstick fades reasonably after a couple of hours, I would still suggest checking up on the fading process, as I personally find that a lipstick with this character has to be freshly lustrous. I believe that those perfect model-y types can wear their smudgy lipstick and still looks insanely sexy with it, but I am a real woman and faded or smudgy looks more sloppy than sexy...

Thus, it is more high maintainance than the average my lips-but-better type of my collection, but that is precisely what the type of woman who wears this lipstick would not care about.

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Since Shiseido Maquillage had lauched a new type of lipstick for 2010, and I am always interested in

a. Japanese lipsticks, especially from Maquillage

b. New and improved products (even though the improvement might not be the ultimate miracle product ever, I still stay curious)

c. ordering online (called shopping therapy...a type of therapy that can lead into other therapy-> that is undoing an online-shopping-addiction, he he...but hey, it helps every now and then!)

d. doing profound research for the blog (ha, what an excuse?...but wouldn't you use it too?)

result after a,b,c and d= I purchased yet another lipstick....

Maquillage actually launched two types of lipsticks, which they normally do: one of them is the sheer version and the other type is a colour version. Simply, the sheer version is...well...sheer and the colour has more pigment.

I opted for the colour version, because I already have a huge range of sheers that seem similar on my lips...at least to an untrained lipstick observer (normally men and other persons who are not really into lipstick and colour, as it all looks natural or "the same" to them...my boyfriend, in contrast, is quite sharp by seeing the lipstick....more that he does not like to kiss 'goop' of my lips)

Oh, I bought colour no RD 306, as it looked like a toned down peachy red on the picture I borrowed from the Maquillage website.

The colour is more a orangy peach in this picture, but it actually has a hint of pink in it as well. I am quite suprised that it is somewhat not in the RD Red category. Or, normally the Japanese lipstick makers will put a colour like this in the PK pink category.

picture in daylight, no direct sun

The colour is lovely and quite light, which is fine, only I really was counting on a reddish base. Plus, it has quite some microglitter that has the tendency to cluster together.

picture in direct sunlight

I do not consider this lipstick to be incredibly longlasting. I would actually say that it is quite shortlived.It provides an accurate amount of moisture, and it is an evolution far away from those dreadful longlasting lipsticks from the 90s (for the younger public...probably the ones your mother's used to wear) which were some superglue versions of lipsticks that would fade in a clownish manner. Still, these are not coming close to Maquillage superb launch of 2009 Maquillage Moisture Rouge Sheer Type and Colour Type.

Overall, even though it is a lovely colour and a good quality lipstick, I will not repurchase the Maquillage lasting Perfect Rouge again. I simply prefer they Moisture Rouge Sheer and Colour over these.
More opinions and other colour swatches of these lipsticks can be seen at Rougedeluxe and Lotuspalace.

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

We have a winner of the early spring birdy giveaway and the number is.....

The lucky winner is the lovely adin_22 (陳亞任)

Congratulations sweetie...I have not received an email adress from you, but you are one busy blogger with a travelling blog (travelling flipflops...love that name) and a sassy beauty blog called Spoiled Rotten...

Saturday, 6 March 2010

Although spring has not sprung in its full form, I think it is time to give a spring-y giveaway.

I will be giving away a couple of new and untouched products, and two of them have been tested twice, but are still in fantastic condition. My prices are from a variety of brands and range from hairstyling to facial care to eyeshadow.

So, what can you win when you are lucky?

1. Shu Uemura Tasai Cream:
I was not sure if I should list a product I gave a negative review for (post over here). I still do, as, also mentioned in my review, I think this product can still be HG material and the 'best-thing-ever' for other people's hair and hairstyle. And honestly, I am one of the few who gave it heads down, so it might be a true gem for the happy winner. Also, I find it too expensive to toss it away like that ($30), so that will be up for the happy winner.

2. MAC mineralize eyeshadow in Two To Glow
(from their Electro Flash collection, swatches here)
Brand new and never used. I am sure I would only use it once or twice, because the colours are not really me. However, the colours are absolutely stunning on brown eyes to lighter eyes.

3. VOV Daily Fresh Volcanic Ash mask.
Bloggers and readers of beauty blogs that post lots about Asian (Korean) products probably know the hype. This is a fabulous version of the VOV Daily Fresh collection, and I am only listing one of these (because I am too greedy to give away more ;D)

4. Pop Nailpolish in Manderin
Brand New. This colour is too bright for me, period. I think it will rock on a person who likes the bold look.

5. MandomBeauty Sheet Mask: Barrier Repair Mask
The VOV mask is for cleansing the skin, and this sheet can be applied afterwards for moisture and repair.

6. Lakme Eyeshadow in Moondust.
I know, I had been raving about this quad over here. I still want to give it away, as I absolutely do not reach for this quad. (Used twice)

7. Lavshuca Dual Eyes in GN-1
Absolutely brand new. Really gorgeous.

The rules:

I will be keeping the same old rules as I did in my last giveaway, only to keep things simple. You are welcome to join even when you are not following my blog, just leave your email in the post OR contact me when I have listed you as a winner.

1. Make a comment or say something small. I should be able to contact you, or you should read closely to see if you are the winner after the drawing, so you can contact me. I do not want followers just for the giveaway, so you can join even if you do not follow my blog. I just want to contact the right winner when the winner has been drawn.